Midland police officer's video goes viral after he calls an IRS scammer back

You've probably seen it circulating the web, a video of a phone conversation with a scammer and a Midland police officer.

After a scammer called his wife, Officer Daniel Stief decided to take it into his hands and poke some fun.

It started as a joke for Stief . He wanted to see how far he could actually get with this scammer on the other line, who claimed he owed money to the IRS. He never once mentioned he's a police officer to prevent the scammer from hanging up.

"They asked me my name they didn't even know my name when I called them," said Stief. "I gave them a fake name of James James."

That's when the department decided to film the interaction.

"The whole idea was to try to get as far as we could possible so they could see the whole scam and the basis of the questions possible," said Stief.

But what Officer Stief didn't realize, is really how far the video would go.

"Originally, we were thinking we wouldn't get any more than we normally would get, which 5 to 10,000 views," said Stief. "It just kept going."

The video hit 7.4 million views on the department's Facebook page and it's still making the rounds all over the web, even hitting national news. Unfortunately, the number couldn't be tracked but with a frustrated scammer, Officer Stief is getting the last laugh.

One of the best things he said is to hang up when an organization calls you, claiming you have money owed. Research the organization they claim to be with and make a call to them asking if you in fact owe any money.

He hopes after this video, you'll learn a thing or two when you hear the phone ring. So watch out for the phonies.

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